Enrollment for ON CENTRE 2015 has been very successful and we are grateful to start this very first run with a very interesting group of participants with most various backgrounds and origin.

The course will be demanding. We are confident that, with sustained concentration and hard work, a good level can be reached in the three months. The latter stages of the course will give time for more personal development. In developing fluent skill participants will, of course, glaze and fire a considerable body of work so that fluency of making is matched by knowledge and fluency in finishing work. It must be understood however that in the initial stages of the course many of the throwing exercises will be recycled, as fluency develops and technical improvement occurs.With dedication, relative beginners are just as likely to benefit fully from the course as those with more experience. Embark on a journey towards knowledge, confidence and fluency!

Applications for ON CENTRE 2016 will open again in March 2016, with deadline of September 2016.

This is a good question. It is a question to which there is no single answer. Ultimately the answer depends on who is asking the question, and why, and on the context in which the glaze is being used.To an industrialist, and indeed to any maker of utilitarian ware, a good glaze is one which fits the body well, is easy to clean and is durable in use. In this context the question is primarily a technical one.

To a maker of decorative pots or of sculpture the question is primarily an aesthetic, visual question – does the glaze have visual qualities which appropriately complete the totality of the object and its surface?

Throwing a variety of functional pots like cups, bowls, pouring pots, lidded jars, teapots, spoons and scoops. Formal issues such as line, volume, and scale will be discussed, as well as ideas concerning aesthetics, historical reference, and function. For surface and decoration we will use slip inlay technique, use of shellac for relief, and decoration techniques with glaze. The work produced in this workshop will be fired to high temperature in a soda kiln.

This workshop for intermediate and advanced ceramicists. Contact us for further information: info@lameridiana.fi.it

It must be understood that in the initial stages of the course many of the throwing exercises will be recycled, as fluency develops and technical improvement occurs, We are expecting that participants will have sufficient experience of throwing to understand not simply what they can expect to get out of the course (this should be clear from the outline programme) but also what they will need to put into the course, in terms of time, concentration and work. With dedication, relative beginners are just as likely to benefit fully from the course as those with more experience.

Groups as well as individuals have identity – we know this from our long experience of running courses. Being a single apprentice in a workshop is a very different experience to being part of a group of people with shared intentions and interests. Being part of a group can, and should, be on enriching experience. The group will live in a shared house and will have single rooms so, after and around work there will be opportunity to socialise as a group but also to enjoy privacy.

At La Meridiana we have run one and two week courses for over three decades. We have had workshop assistants/trainees who have stayed for various periods between several months to over a year.But 2015 will be the first year we offer ON CENTRE, a twelve week course, aimed specifically at giving the opportunity to develop repetition throwing of domestic items to a professional level, open to a small group. The course will be demanding. We are confident that, with sustained concentration and hard work, a good level can be reached in the three months and the latter stages of the period will give time for more personal development.
In developing fluent skill participants will, of course, glaze and fire a considerable body of work so that fluency of making is matched by knowledge and fluency in finishing work. Find here the full course description

Ceramic workshops can be of many kinds: Very intensive, a work holiday with accent on “holiday”, mostly relaxing with a series of cultural intersections like food – wine – food – wine –food –wine. This past workshop with Mark Hewitt had it all: a very numerous and humorous group with participants from many continents, interesting side arguments like sustainable food and the medieval writer Boccaccio, great side trips.
The core, however, couldn’t have been than the Sweet Pots!
See here what has been achieved on the throwing wheel during those two weeks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri1715EcSPk
By the way, Mark will be back at La Meridiana in 2015!
In the meantime, check out the programme of 2013, there are still many great clay workshops to come.http://www.lameridiana.fi.it/ceramic_courses_programme.htm

Kick wheel versus electric wheel, Mediterranean wheel, versus Japanese/American wheel: the debate about which is the best goes on steadily at La Meridiana. The gentleman in the picture has tested many types and found this very popular model adequate for a diverse use. Please do share your opinion on behalf!